Lucid Puppy 5.25 works from live CD, but from hard drive with frugal install it goes to a blank screen instead of X that I can only exit with power button. Lucid Puppy 2016 with the oldest kernel also goes to a blank screen. (I did not try lupu3 or sulu variants yet).

The CPU tests out about the same speed as my DELL 8100 from 2001 (P3).

With DebianDog Wheezy and youtube-viewer (non-GTK version) I can play 480p youtube video using mpv in X. (The Debian binary does not appear to recognize mplayer. An mplayer with fbdev support would use less cpu but on this laptop only play 8-bit color in console mode).

I might get 240p with palemoon and youtube site if the GPU is sufficiently faster than on the 8100.

Resolution only 1024x768.

Palemoon cannot handle three open tabs. Two is okay. VSZ% 224 for Palemoon. I made a 512MB swap file. Tahr is usable if I kill ROX and a bunch of other things to save memory. Wary and DebianDog use less RAM (the latter surprisingly little). BUT DebianDog does not find any wifi signal with ipw2100 (works with all the puppies) so I plugged in ethernet cable.

The screen is nice and clear, nonglare, and nonwide. Nice keyboard.
The trackpad scroll features works in Puppy (it does not on two 2004 DELL Inspiron 600M's).

I upgraded from 256MB to 512MB PC2100 (it can in theory take 1GB) and replaced the dead 30GB hard disk. I added ipw2100 wifi card to a never-used slot.

The laptop has a reputation for filling with dust and overheating, and also for overheating and desoldering a chip if you press in the wrong place - both leading to class action suits.

This one somehow survived 15 years, possibly because the hard disk died young. The screen is in perfect shape (unlike the 600ms). It was a budget computer in 2003 (only about $750). Has much nicer feel and look than the newer budget models.

It takes a while to load webpages but is quite usable. Nice loud clear sound. No drawbacks other than lack of hi color framebuffer console and whatever keeps installed Lucid Puppy from working with it.

My old 1100 (w/P4 @ 2.60 GHz), 1.5 GB RAM, and a 64 GB SSD, was lucky enough to be able to upgrade to the A32 BIOS. It originally came with the A22, which gave me the exact same problem that you've got.....a max of 1 MB 'shared' VRAM.

Upgrading to the A32 gave me access to a massive 8 MB of VRAM (heady stuff..!)

These come as bootable ISO images, so no messing about with DOS-based floppy disks & all that malarky. Boot from it like a LiveCD, and it does just one thing.....updates the BIOS image. You can't go wrong with it, 'cos there simply are no choices to make! 2 minutes later, it's all over, and you're booting back into whatever OS you have installed.....

I believe yours will be a Phoenix BIOS; post-A22, they became Dell-only, and were a totally different design from the ground up.

--------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT:- Research leads me to believe that if you have an original condition 1150, then it may well still be fitted with the factory-installed AO2 or AO3 BIOS. That being the case, the newest BIOS available, the AO6, should help with the 'shared VRAM' problem.

According to this Dell forums thread, the 1150 should be capable of accessing up to 64MB of 'shared VRAM', dependent upon the amount of system RAM installed:-

If you would like to give this a try (a simple matter of downloading the BIOS ISO image from Bay-Wolf.com, then burning to CD with pBurn, and 'booting' from it.....which is exactly what I did), this is a direct link to the AO6 ISO image for the 1150. Just click on the red.

Extract the .zip file with UExtract (or Xarchive); you'll get 2 items.....an ISO image, and a 'ReadMe' file. That's it. Burn the ISO to CD with pBurn (which works fine) then boot from it.....and just follow the on-screen instructions. Simples!

Mike. Last edited by Mike Walsh on Wed 28 Mar 2018, 19:50; edited 5 times in total

Lucid Puppy 5.25 works from live CD, but from hard drive with frugal install it goes to a blank screen instead of X

That is a development version of Lucid and it had bugs.
Should try to use the latest version.
5.2.8.005 final stable release or 5.2.8.7 updated with newer software.

How did you do the frugal install?
What boot loader is being used?
Could you post the boot loader menu entry that is booting Lucid 5.25?
May be something not correct in it._________________The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected YaPI(any iso installer) http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=107601

Lucid 5.25 boots okay but crashes repeatably when I try to change time zone or window manager. Lucid 2016 (5.2.8.7 updated in 2016) won't even load X - it crashes immediately on trying. I determined it won't work with intel, i810 or fbdev driver. Sometimes blank screen, sometimes immobile cursor in upper left, no response to keyboard, have to power off.

855GM video chip (2003) was also found in Toshibas and is known for having a buggy or even unusable intel driver in Ubuntu.
Someone said it worked in Ubuntu 9 but not in 10 or 11. Lucid I think is the Ubuntu 10 equivalent.

For some reason Wary (with a 2.6 kernel) has a working version of intel driver, but Lucid (even lupu3hd with a slightly newer 2.6 kernel than Wary) does not. Maybe someone patched the driver?

In the Lupu 2016 discussion I was advised to try i915.modeset=0 (I think it is actually i810) which did not help. Nor did booting without setting vga=773 (framebuffer console).

Using a later kernel with later driver (Sulu 1, kernel 3.0.25) fixed the video problem. (It also fixed a problem with a DELL B130 with 900 series Intel video chip). Sulu1 has worked perfectly so far.

Regarding BIOS update, this 'budget' laptop seems to have a CD burner (which I know at least reads CDs) so I will give that a try.
It does NOT boot from USB flash drive. (Maybe it would with PLOP boot manager run from USB floppy?) I proved that only 256-color framebuffer works, so it is not upgraded to use 64MB video RAM.

Both were sold with 14 or 15" screens at 1024x768.
External monitor can display more (to 1900 with A07)

They are reviewed as budget ($700+) with excellent clear sharp screens and good keyboards. The budget refers to cheaper slower chipsets and lower screen resolution, not physical quality.

The 1150 has better wifi reception (internal antenna in screen) but is less BIOS-upgradeable.

My 2003 ipw2100 card does WPA but not WPA2. The 1150 came with never-used wifi card slot. The 600M (also 2004) was sold with ipw2100. Works well with puppies and debiandog. 5.4Mbps download speed (wireless B). Adequate for 480p youtube. Also onboard ethernet and modem.

There is an A07 BIOS upgrade for the 1150 to support 1920 resolution externally and ipw 2200BG and Broadcom 1370BG wifi cards internally. mini-pcmcia (large card). No bug fixes in A07.
I cannot find A06 for 1150.

Celeron CPU (in mine) said to run hot. Does Pentium run cooler?
I could upgrade from 2.60GHz Celeron to 2.8 GHz Pentium, but someone said that only works if you disable speedstep when on AC power, which slows it to 1.6GHz. (Not necessary on battery power). It runs cooler and is more stable. Someone suggested upgrading BIOS to A21 to fix this problem, but A07 is the latest upgrade.

Someone reported 'frequent hangs' after upgrading to A06 or A07.
I can't even find A06 or details of what it improved.

I may stick with A02 since I don't need 2GB RAM or WPA2, or 1920 external monitor (I don't have one), and it is not clear whether the upgrade would add more console framebuffer RAM, but see if I have a mobile P4 2.8GHz processor. Someone else put in a 533FSB which worked for them.

I had a semiworking 1100 once which had been dropped on its head too many times, kept crashing (motherboard problem), and got recycled. I have a spare 1150 with dead motherboard for parts and a working 5150 with 1400x1050 screen and 3GHz Pentium CPU that cost $1500 new and is more than twice as fast as the 1150. Several people said that the 1150 should support 1400x1050. VGA out.

Can take Banias or Dothan (2004) cpus but the latter may require BIOS upgrade.

I will use it the way it is for a while since I have no way to downgrade in case A07 causes problems.

This laptop tests out less than half the speed of my two 2003-4 600Ms, which play youtube at 360p with palemoon and at 480p with youtube-viewer in X.

It plays youtube at 240p (barely) in palemoon and at 720p with youtube-viewer in X. On a beautiful clear bright non-reflective screen optimized for non-widescreen videos such as 90s TV programs.

It has much nicer rubber feet and the trackpad scroll works with puppy linuxes.

Not worth checking if vlc will play instead of mpv (it supports fbdev) because of the 8-bit framebuffer console video.

The only reason for an A07 BIOS upgrade would be for faster wifi but ethernet cable works. Wireless B download is 5.4Mbps, more than adequate for 720p.

Not a single crash using it with wary or debiandog.

My newest laptop (2009 HP) just suddenly shut itself off. Widescreen is highly unsuited for all the phone-optimized websites unless I turn the laptop on its side and rotate the screen (and plug in an external keyboard).

The link to video RAM site says that you get 64MB video RAM if you have 256MB or more RAM.
But only 1MB of the 64MB is allocated to console framebuffer.

Sorry I missed the link to A06 update and the list of what all the updates fix. Very thoughtless of me.
I very much appreciate all your help.

I have not experienced any of the problems fixed by updates 3 through 6. So far this is the most stable
laptop I have used (except that older linux intel drivers are buggy).

I do not run it with closed lid.

No fan problems. (I don't understand 'by only time 30 seconds...).

I do not use Diags in BIOS or close the lid while it is running.

I have a spare keyboard.

The overheating warning sounds useful but not essential. No thermal problems so far.
The laptop is known for getting dusty and overheating when fan on bottom is blocked but it has unusually thick feet.
It will not be used on a lap.

It has no DVD burner.
I am not concerned about booting right after changing boot order.
I do not suspend. (Though I should in warm weather).

(What did I misunderstand here?).

BUT the A07 support for wireless G cards looks useful and it may be safe to install (see below).

A07 = A06 + the following
=========================
Issues Fixed:
=============
None.
New Features and Enhancements:
===============
1. Added support 1920 resolution for Dell 2005FPW external monitor.
2. Added support for Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG and Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG miniPCI devices, so that these cards show
up in setup as "Wireless" cards.
3. Added support for Broadcom Wireless 1470ABG and 1370BG miniPCI devices, so that these cards show up in setup as
"Wireless" cards.
4. Added new microcode update for Mobile Intel Pentium 4 and Celeron D1-stepping CPU.
5. Added 'Configure Passwords' feature to Setup.

Will D1 stepping support a newer faster CPU and if so would it overheat?

I have no 1920 monitor or need to use one with a 2004 laptop.

Version

Version A07, A07

Release date

28 Jul 2005

Importance

[5]Optional

Available formats

File Format:Non-Packaged
File Name:1150_A07.EXE
Download Type:HTTP
File Size: 534 KB
Format Description:This file format consists of a BIOS-executable file. To use it, download the file and copy it to a
DOS-bootable USB flash drive, then boot the system to the USB flash drive and run the program.

File Format: Hard Drive
File Name:R103929.exe
Download Type:HTTP
File Size: 2 MB
Format Description:This file contains a compressed (or zipped) set of files. Download the file to a folder on your hard
drive, and then run (double-click) it to unzip the set of files. Follow the instructions to complete the installation.

(I omitted instructions for use).

======================

The following describes someone's problem with A07 update. Am I correct that they copied to floppy disk the file
intended for copying to USB flash drive, as wrongly instructed by DELL? I have USB floppy drives and DOS boot floppy
disks but no spare USB flash drives, and I cannot find my CD-Rs.

Why would a file that runs from DOS bootable flash drive not also run from floppy drive?

BIOS A07 for Inspiron 1150

Alrighty, so here's the problem. I have here a Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop with a previous bios version of A03. I
downloaded the 1150-A07.exe from this here Dell company and booted from a DOS disc with the said file copied to it. I
then proceeded to run the 1150_A07.exe from a DOS prompt and followed the steps to update. After the install meter
reached 100% the computer proceeded to shut it self down instantly. Upon attempting to reboot the machine the screen is
just blank. I hooked up an external monitor with nothing on that screen either. I can hear the cd and hdd spin up when
first initiated but after that there is just the fan and a completely blank screen. Now that I take a little closer
look at the Dell support site, I have to say that I am a little confused.
First we start off with the Drivers & Downloads list for the newest BIOS.
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/format.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&deviceid=5983&libid=1&releaseid=R103929&ver
cnt=7&formatcnt=0&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_1150&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=-1&impid=-1
"Non-Packaged 1150_A07.EXE Description: This file format consists of a BIOS executable file. To use it, download the
file and copy it to a DOS-bootable diskette. With the diskette in the floppy drive, reboot the system and run the
program."
You look in here and you read the instructions and it says to do exactly what I have done. Which in turn kills the
motherboard? Now you click on the link to bring you to download the 1150_A07.exe and read the instructions on that page
as well:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R103929&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_115
0&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=5983&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=7&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=4&libid=1&fileid=1341
10
"Installation Instructions The file 1150_A07.EXE is using the Hard Drive format and is designed to be directly executed
from Windows environments."
Now when they say "Windows environments" do they mean DOS-bootable diskettes?
So my question is this; Is there anything I can do to fix this aside from replacing the motherboard, and if I have to
replace the motherboard would it be possible for Dell to replace it considering the error in their instructions could
have possibly lead to the death of this one?
Message Edited by catawalks on 06-04-2007 12:16 PM

Much of it is highly technical stuff - way over most people's heads - but you may be interested in section 6.3.1, titled 'DDR SDRAM Interface Overview', detailing the max addressable amounts (and types) of system RAM the 855GM will support

213 pages in that PDF! Maximum memory 1GB, or 2GB if 'stacked'.
Some computers will take only half as much memory if it is faster than designed for. I have not looked for framebuffer RAM limit in there.

Two other laptops that won't run Lupu properly are 2003 Gateway 200ARC (works with Wary) and a 2004 ACER 400LCi (using Tahr), and they both have 855GM. The ACER won't suspend with Lupu but will with Sulu. Maybe I should update that BIOS.

I updated the 1150 to 768MB PC2700 (along with several other laptops designed for PC2100). The BIOS says it is 266MHz (it runs at PC2100 speed).

I read most of the Inspiron BIOS update texts. They all fix some of the same problems (suspend, battery, docking, stuff I don't care about), and also allow for newer cpus and wifi cards (G, WPA2).

I have two 600Ms (now upgraded to PC2700 1GB). Latest BIOS update is A17 but A16 was buggy and caused the laptops to identify themselves to the next BIOS update as D600, so the update would not update. The fix is to run with /forcetype (read about the details). One of my 600Ms is at A16 (did not check if it thinks it is D600) and the other is a 'D600'. The A17 update fixes this problem.

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